Chris Baker has been lining up as the Redskins' starting left end at OTAs.

Baker started the final three games at left end last season and signed a new three-year, $9 million deal in February. Barry Cofield and Jason Hatcher are locked in at nose tackle and right end, respectively. Baker will face some competition from Jarvis Jenkins and veteran Stephen Bowen.

Source: ESPN.com May 30 - 10:53 AM

Maybe we'll run some of that "Big Nickel" Bugel was running in Arizona a few years back.

Chris Baker has been lining up as the Redskins' starting left end at OTAs.

Baker started the final three games at left end last season and signed a new three-year, $9 million deal in February. Barry Cofield and Jason Hatcher are locked in at nose tackle and right end, respectively. Baker will face some competition from Jarvis Jenkins and veteran Stephen Bowen.

Source: ESPN.com May 30 - 10:53 AM

Maybe we'll run some of that "Big Nickel" Bugel was running in Arizona a few years back.

Chris Baker has been lining up as the Redskins' starting left end at OTAs.

Baker started the final three games at left end last season and signed a new three-year, $9 million deal in February. Barry Cofield and Jason Hatcher are locked in at nose tackle and right end, respectively. Baker will face some competition from Jarvis Jenkins and veteran Stephen Bowen.

Source: ESPN.com May 30 - 10:53 AM

Maybe we'll run some of that "Big Nickel" Bugel was running in Arizona a few years back.

Didn't Buges coach the O line

He was head coach of the Arizona/Phoenix Cardinals from 1990 to 1993. He ran a defensive scheme there he called "Big Nickel."

The purpose of the "Big Nickel" was simple. The Cards had injuries galore at the linebacker position and had a stable of big thumper defensive linemen. Instead of trying to put worthless backup linebackers out there, the Cards defensive staff got creative and came up with the "Big Nickel". Basically the Big Nickel was a philosophy of putting the best 11 defensive players on the field regardless of position. The Cards decided that they couldn't stop everything, but they were damn sure that no one was going to run on them so they put 290 lb. Micheal Bangston and 340 plus pound Rueben Davis at Defensive End alongside 315 lb. Eric Swann and 335 pound Keith Rucker at Defensive Tackle. It had to be the largest defensive line in the history of football. No one ran on these guys the last part of 1992 and for most of 1993 until Eric Swann got hurt. They then put Ken Harvey and Eric Hill at linebacker and went with 5 defensive backs. On passing downs they brought in Freddie Joe Nunn and Ken Harvey at Defensive End.

In his last season there (running Big Nickel) the Cards went 7-9. They were 7th in the league in scoring defense. I remember them finishing very strongly and dominating a lot of good teams down the stretch.

I saw Baker written up as a potential "breakout" Redskin for 2014 today:

DL Chris Baker—It’s hard for a 3-4 defensive lineman to break out since if they’re doing their jobs you don’t hear much about them. But with his size and athletic ability, Baker could rack up some sacks and make his presence felt on the field.

riggofan wrote:I saw Baker written up as a potential "breakout" Redskin for 2014 today:

DL Chris Baker—It’s hard for a 3-4 defensive lineman to break out since if they’re doing their jobs you don’t hear much about them. But with his size and athletic ability, Baker could rack up some sacks and make his presence felt on the field.

My thoughts the other day were that our defense held down the fort in 2012 to get us into the playoffs. In 2013, it was most of the same guys. I think the difference was they all weren't happy with the Shanny-clan. Morale in battle is almost everything; I think this team is starting to believe in themselves and love the game again.

"I'm trying to be as honest as I can; I don't normally do that." -Mike Shanahan

riggofan wrote:I saw Baker written up as a potential "breakout" Redskin for 2014 today:

DL Chris Baker—It’s hard for a 3-4 defensive lineman to break out since if they’re doing their jobs you don’t hear much about them. But with his size and athletic ability, Baker could rack up some sacks and make his presence felt on the field.

Chris Baker has been lining up as the Redskins' starting left end at OTAs.

Baker started the final three games at left end last season and signed a new three-year, $9 million deal in February. Barry Cofield and Jason Hatcher are locked in at nose tackle and right end, respectively. Baker will face some competition from Jarvis Jenkins and veteran Stephen Bowen.

Source: ESPN.com May 30 - 10:53 AM

Maybe we'll run some of that "Big Nickel" Bugel was running in Arizona a few years back.

I actually love the idea. Personally this is how I would run a 3-4. I would just put three Nose tackles rather then One Nose and two DEs.

The 3 defensive lineman are one nose tackle who is supposed to be the main run stuffer. Then two defensive ends who are supposed to be good against the run and able to rush the passer. The two defensive ends in a 3-4 are different from those of a 4-3. A DE in the 3-4 is supposed to be able to stuff the run and rush the passer. Resulting in usually a smaller defensive tackle. So what you get is a tweener who is really good at either rushing passer or stuffing the run. Whats the point of that?

How I run a 3-4 is basically like the Big Nickel. You are 3 gigantic down lineman. The job of these three are to stuff the run at all costs. On passing downs they are to create double teams. Most of the pressure comes via the blitz one or two of the LBs. When you have the gigantic lineman you can blitz the A gap and it scares the living you know what out of the opposing QBs because the three nose tackles are creating such huge blitzing lanes.

Pittsburg has done a great job of using the 3-4. If you notice when they won the SBs earlier in the 2000s they had two very large lineman with dominating OLBs.

New England when they had Richard Seymour and Vince Wilfork absolutley dominated opposing offenses. It was a nightmare to block those two. Basically the same idea.

Personally I dont think we have the personell to run a big Nickel. Cofield is good but is not a Wilfork. Hes more Seymour but not quite as good. We still need a dominant nose tackle. Hatcher is more of a 4-3 defensive end/ 3-4 OLB.

In Dallas Hatcher was coming off the edge when he got his sacks. Dallas would line up Hatcher in a number of positions but I remember him having most of his success when they lined him up on the edge. So I dont know how good Hatcher will be as one of the three on the defensive line.

Our Dline will be solid. But I dont think its elite yet. We are still missing that true nose tackle. Cofield is good but I believe if we drafted/traded for or developed a dominant nose tackle and moved Cofield to DE our Dline would be much better.